Leisure centres set for major upgrades

While plans are still in their infancy, Brimbank mayor John Hedditch said upgrades were long overdue.

“The much-needed redevelopment of the St Albans Leisure Centre provides the council with an exciting opportunity to not only deliver a new leisure and community facility, but to also maximise community health and wellbeing benefits,” Cr Hedditch said. “The final cost of the project will depend on the final design and be known around June 2019. It is estimated this cost will be in excess of $50 million.”

Cr Hedditch said the council had also begun the planning process to redevelop the Sunshine Leisure Centre.

“I think the CEO would tell you that St Albans Leisure Centre is pretty well our highest priority.

“It is falling apart and there is a need to rebuild it.

“However, there is a need to future-proof the Sunshine Leisure Centre.

“There’s a lot of population growth to come here, and when Sunshine Leisure Centre was built 10 years ago, the gym was built too small and the water space wasn’t sufficient, so there is a whole future-proofing master planning approach for Sunshine to go on to make it a better, more accessible leisure centre.”

The council has approved $70,000 for a master plan to cover both centres.

It will also consider a proposal to change the management model of the centres.

“We are considering a joint management model across both centres supported by agreed service standards, customer and community feedback, industry benchmarking and regular evaluation,” Cr Hedditch said.

“We’ve spent the best part of the last year working with the community and industry experts to look at ways to address the issues raised by the community.”

As a result of that consultation the council will consider trialling longer opening hours for the Sunshine centre outdoor pool; improving the learn-to-swim programs; offering more swimming lessons; and introducing three hours free parking at the Brimbank multi-deck carpark which neighbours the Sunshine Leisure Centre.